The Wandering Inn_Volume 1, page 501
And Erin could talk to her about things only Ryoka could understand.
Ryoka had discovered the joys of a brie-like cheese, close in texture, but slightly greenish and with a sharper tang to the flavor than she was used to. She offered some to Erin, and Erin declined. She had a lovely striped cheese that went very nicely with a bit of dried plum on the platter.
“So what really happened while I was gone? How’d you get back? Was everything really okay?”
For a second Erin’s mind went blank as Ryoka asked the question. She thought of everything that had transpired since she’d left Celum. She took a deep breath, put down her food, and looked at Ryoka, happiness gone.
“I killed Toren.”
Ryoka froze. She looked at Erin.
“You met him? Did he try to attack you?”
The other girl shook her head.
“No. I never saw him after he ditched me. But I heard—oh, Ryoka. I heard a lot of terrible things.”
She told Ryoka about Toren. How he’d attacked people on the road, ambushed travelers, and how she’d told Pisces to cut her mana supply. Ryoka clenched her fist, crumbling a cracker to dust in her hand as she listened.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“You warned me. I should have listened.”
There were no words for the guilt Erin felt. Ryoka nodded, looking upset.
“I did. But I didn’t think he’d suddenly start killing—I wonder if something Pisces did went wrong? Or maybe it’s because he could level…anyways, that’s really…are you sure he’s dead?”
“What?”
“Rule of monsters, Erin. In every scary movie, in every video game…the monster’s not dead until you see the body. And sometimes, not even then.”
Ryoka stared at her friend. Erin had frozen in her seat.
“You think Toren’s alive? But I cut his mana supply…”
“Maybe he had a mana potion? Or…is there a way to generate mana on your own? Could he have found another master or something? This is reality, not a movie, Erin. But we are in a fantasy world.”
“I know. I get it. I’ll—I’ll keep an ear open. If anyone talks about a skeleton, I’ll know.”
Erin sat with her hands woven together, staring down at the table. Ryoka stared at her and coughed.
“Sorry. I didn’t want to—look, it’s just a thought.”
“I know. And I did more than just kill Toren, I mean, that was like the last thing that happened. Actually, a lot of things happened while you were gone! What happened to you? I heard Magnolia spirited you away when you went to Ocre to visit Ceria and the others. What did she want?”
Ryoka shrugged.
“The usual. Threats, interrogation, intrigue—”
“Aw. Did she try and charm you as well?”
“That was the first thing she did! God—I could have kicked her ass, but not with Ressa there. Oh!”
Ryoka snapped her fingers. The sound was a crack—in the small room it was like a gunshot. Erin jumped.
“That’s loud!”
“Sorry. But you don’t know! Guess what I found out on the way to Magnolia’s mansion? Ressa’s not just a [Maid]. She’s a [Ninja].”
“What? You’re joking.”
“I’m sure of it. I saw her toss a throwing star at a bunch of Goblins that ambushed the carriage. And after that, when Magnolia was attacked by the assassins, she was fighting them like—”
“What? An assassin attack?”
“Oh, yeah. That.”
Ryoka waved a hand airily, concealing a grin. Near-death experience and horrifying trauma was fun to joke about after the fact.
“That happened right in the middle of our chat. Didn’t you have an assassination attempt when you visited her?”
“No I didn’t! Spill! What happened? Is Magnolia okay?”
“Well, I think she’ll have to do some remodeling, but her shrubbery was only partially consumed by the fire—”
Ryoka ducked as Erin threw a bit of cheese at her. She laughed, and then stopped laughing when she told Erin about the people who’d died. Erin listened, almost in tears when she heard about the servants who’d been killed as the assassins went after Magnolia, agog when she heard about Magnolia’s death-ray ring…and then she told Ryoka about returning to Esthelm, about talking with Pawn about Christianity…
Sometime after they’d been talking, the bit of cheese was eaten by Mrsha, who slunk into the room to grab as much food as she could carry and escape. Ryoka and Erin were sitting together by this point, laughing and talking to each other freely.
“It was just for a few weeks, but it feels like months, doesn’t it?”
Erin nodded, sipping from her cup as Ryoka filled hers from a pitcher filled with ice cubes.
“I did so much! I helped run Agnes’ inn, I made a bunch of weird food at Octavia’s shop, I helped start an acting troupe and got a magical door—”
“Hold up. What was that? Acting? You’re joking with me.”
“Nope! We should stop by the Frenzied Hare before we go back to Liscor. I can introduce you to Wesle and Jasi—they’re putting on a performance of Othello this week, I think!”
Ryoka stared at Erin. She stared at her cup. She slowly filled her mouth with liquid and looked at Erin. The girl raised her hands.
“Don’t you dare spit it on me! No!”
When Ryoka had swallowed and Erin had explained, the conversation halted and stopped on Erin’s private indignation with Miss Agnes, whom she’d had less and less contact with since returning to Liscor.
“Can you believe her? I mean, she didn’t want to help Jasi at all! It was like she didn’t even care!”
Ryoka could only shrug. She wanted to ask, ‘what did you expect?’, but then she looked at Erin and realized the other girl had expected more of Agnes.
“Honestly, I’m not surprised, Erin. Agnes is, well, an ordinary woman. She might be nice to her friends and people who help her out, but she’s not going to stick her neck out for other people.”
“I thought she was a good person.”
Erin sighed as she fiddled with a cracker. Ryoka’s mouth twisted.
“She’s just a person. Not bad, not good. She might help a bit if she has the means, but she’s not like you, Erin. She’s not…worth thinking about.”
“But she was so nice and welcoming. How could a woman like that just not care? Jasi was so tired—and hurt! She was practically missing all the scales on her hands! Are people just like that?”
Ryoka’s head bowed.
“Maybe. Maybe they’re all like that.”
Erin stared at her. Ryoka ran her hands along the edge of her chair as she spoke.
“That’s how I used to think. I’d look at news stories of people letting dictators get away with crimes, or turning a blind eye to crimes or not doing anything when there’s a problem. Or if they did, it was something small. Something I thought was worthless, like one of those food drives where you donate bits of food and ship it off to another country. Ordinary people did just enough to make themselves feel good and let other people do the actual work.”
“Sometimes that’s all you can do.”
Erin’s voice was soft. She looked at the table.
“Sometimes you can only do a bit, Ryoka.”
Ryoka nodded.
“Yeah. I realized that when I tried to do the right thing. It’s really hard. Really, really hard. Half the time it seems like there’s no answer, no good way to fix what’s broken. The other half, it feels like if everyone would just work together we’d solve the problem. But we never do.”
Erin stared at a wall. When she spoke, it was quietly, thoughtfully.
“I don’t think it’s fair to ask random people to fix problems. I think we’ve got to work together, so if there’s something I need to do, I’ll ask people I can trust. My friends.”
“But if you do that, what about the world?”
She shrugged. Erin pointed to the closed window.
“I don’t know about the world. I can’t imagine trying to solve world hunger, or—or cure cancer. And there’s no internet here. No way to talk to people. But I can help people around me. That’s what I did at Esthelm.”
“You did do that.”
Ryoka still couldn’t believe Erin had managed that. She’d saved a city. Or maybe…helped them save themselves. Erin nodded.
“I think you’re sort of right, Ryoka. In our world it’s really hard to do stuff. There’s laws and jerks and so many problems. And we’re not rich or powerful or famous. Maybe in our world we can’t do anything. But here, I know the second-most important guy in Liscor’s Hive, and I know a Drake [General], a bunch of Gold-rank adventurers, and I played chess with Magnolia. I can do something, I think. I can help people. It’s just that I’m so busy…”
“Yeah. That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.”
Ryoka sat up in her chair. Erin was trying to juggle crackers and failing. She looked at Ryoka.
“I just don’t know what to do. I love all my new customers and I’m making money hand over fist with all the Gold-rank adventurers. It’s just I don’t have time, and Lyonette’s overworked as it is…”
“So hire someone.”
Erin blinked at Ryoka. Ryoka stared at her.
“I mean, maybe you don’t want to, but I think you have to at this point, Erin. You could have someone do a trial and maybe it’ll be tough sorting things out, but if you can get an actual staff—”
“No, I think you’re right. I just forgot I could do that. Hire someone. Okay. Yeah, that’s a good idea!”
Ryoka stared. She stared so hard her eyes felt like they were going to fall out. Erin shifted uneasily.
“What?”
“You forgot you could hire people?”
“I’m new to this innkeeper thing, okay? I kept thinking ‘this is my inn, so I’ve got to do everything’. I only hired Lyonette because I thought she’d die in the cold by herself. But I guess I never thought about getting a new [Barmaid] or [Cook].”
“So you’re going to do it?”
Erin nodded, smiling.
“Yeah. I can do it. I’ll do it tomorrow, or maybe later today. Actually, I’ll look into it after we finish talking.”
“What?”
“I’ll go hire someone. You’re right. Selys always said I should. I’ll go have a word with Safry and Maran tomorrow. They’re both [Barmaids]. They should know some good people I could interview, right?”
Ryoka hesitated. Erin’s turnaround from thought to action was so fast she was having a hard time keeping up.
“I mean, we could think this through some more. Have you thought about hiring a Drake or Gnoll? It might help if they know more about local customs. How much will you pay them?”
Erin shrugged.
“I don’t know. I’ll figure it all out as I go. That’s how I roll.”
Ryoka stared, but since she’d done that and Erin seemed immune to it, she switched topics.
“Okay, about Pawn.”
“What about him?”
Erin looked confused. Ryoka replayed parts of their catching up she’d done.
“You said you were telling him about the bible, right?”
“Yeah…well, he was asking. And he was really confused, so I…”
Erin hesitated. She vaguely recalled Ryoka’s admonitions not to bring up religion.
“Was that a bad thing?”
There was a right way to respond and a wrong way. Ryoka had done the wrong way, once. She remembered shouting at Erin, calling her an idiot and then getting punched halfway into oblivion. She bit her lip.
“I think…it might have been a mistake. But it’s what Pawn needed. I’ll have a talk with him. But this god thing…”
“I know. Gods are a bad thing. The crusades and the inquisition, right?”
“Something similar. But if Klbkch is okay with Pawn…well, I’ve just got a lot to do around here.”
“So do I! I think I need to talk to Klbkch too, Ryoka.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I was thinking of expanding my inn, actually.”
“What, just like that?”
“Well obviously I need to see how much it will cost. But my rooms are all sold out and I think Ceria and the others are getting tired of sleeping in the basement. If I could get the Antinium to build me a third floor or maybe a second wing…”
“You’ll definitely need more staff if that’s the case.”
“And a [Cook]! I’m telling you Ryoka, if I didn’t have to keep making food all day that would free me up so much. Forget a [Barmaid], a [Cook] is what I really need. But it’s so hard finding people with [Advanced Cooking]—apparently people with that Skill are sort of rare. I don’t want to pay too much for someone, you know?”
Ryoka nodded thoughtfully. She had a sudden thought.
“You said you leveled up, right? You got that magical ambient energy and a skill that kept everything fresh, right?”
“Right!”
Erin nodded happily. Her becoming a [Magical Innkeeper] had been one of the highlights of her recent past. Ryoka smiled as her thought became an idea, and an excellent one.
“If that’s the case, maybe you don’t need a [Cook] after all.”
“What do you mean?”
Erin was curious. Ryoka smiled.
“You have a Skill that keeps food fresh, right? If that’s the case, why not prepare everything a few days ahead of time rather than worrying about it?”
She was opening her mouth to object when Erin realized what Ryoka was saying. Her eyes widened.
“You mean—”
Ryoka nodded, grinning widely in anticipation.
“I mean cook everything. Take a day and just make food for twelve hours straight. You can store it wherever you like and serve it whenever you need to! For that matter, don’t worry about mealtimes. Just make breakfast, lunch, and dinner all together. Because if the food doesn’t lose its freshness…”
“I can just reheat it! I could have a month’s worth of food ready and all Lyonette has to do is warm it up and serve it!”
Erin leapt to her feet. She threw her hands up and danced about, laughing excitedly.
“Ryoka, you’re a genius!”
“I’d like to think so. Speaking of which, when we get back I want to test that magical door of yours. It’s…frankly, it’s mind blowing.”
“Isn’t it incredible?”
“Yeah, but it could be more incredible, Erin.”
“What do you mean?”
Thoughtfully, Ryoka glanced at the window, which was again, less than scenic since the shutters were closed.
“There has to be a way to utilize all that mana your inn is producing.”
“I thought it would be good mostly for my door, actually.”
“Yeah, but—I bet the door doesn’t take up a third of your inn’s supply of mana. If that’s even how it works! I want to see how many people you could actually transport before it runs out of power and—I wonder how far you could send people with it? Could you send someone to say…Invrisil?”
Erin froze mid-tango. She gaped at Ryoka.
“Invrisil? Ryoka, you really think I could make my inn connect all the way over there?”
“It would help me out a lot, if you did.”
Ryoka’s mind was racing with possibilities. She frowned, thinking aloud.
“But that’s not all. I know there’s rune magic. Couldn’t you use the inn’s mana for some kind of spell?”
“Like what?”
“Like—well, you’ve already got the equivalent of a preservation rune on your whole inn…”
“Better.”
Erin smiled happily. Ryoka blinked.
“Oh? How so?”
“I could have gotten some runes on my pantry. I talked to this [Mage] who said he could put some on my pantry for…I think it was like forty gold coins? But it would only have been a shelf or two, and it wouldn’t be total preservation. He said it was more like it would slow down the rate at which food went bad. So I couldn’t just leave raw meat in there because it would still go bad pretty fast.”
“Huh. I guess [Field of Preservation] really is an incredible skill.”
“Right? What do you think I’d get at Level 40? Or Level 60?”
“I don’t know. A totally automated kitchen? Plates and dishes that automatically serve and wash themselves?”
“That would be so cool. Do you think—”
“Anyways, Erin. I was saying that you could have other runes. Like ones that heat up your inn, or cool it down. Or…or what about a rune that…distills water from the air? Is that possible?”
“Ooh. Useful! Let me write this down.”
Erin searched around for a bit of parchment as Ryoka kept talking.
“There’s so much I have to do there. I told you about Laken—”
“An actual [Emperor]! And he’s from our world! I want to meet him. And Durene!”
“I’m sure you’ll love him. But he’s so far away that even with Magnolia’s coach, it’s a day’s journey. But if you could get to Invrisil just by walking through a door—”
“The Runner’s Guild will get really mad if I start doing deliveries that way.”
“Maybe it can just be a personal connection? If people knew your door could do that, you might be in danger.”
Ryoka was thinking over the issue, looking for potential risks. Erin nodded, serious.
“I want to make my inn better. If I can link my inn to other cities, I’m totally down for it. And I like the idea of expanding the inn. And hiring more help. Especially hiring more help. I wonder if I could hire Garry? Or…”
She broke off, lapsing into thought. Ryoka stared at her friend. They’d covered a lot of topics, almost everything Ryoka had done and seen. She’d told Erin about the wand she’d sold to Hedault to equip the Horns of Hammerad. But there was one thing she hadn’t mentioned.
“Erin, there’s something I need to talk to you about. Magnolia and her assassins are one thing, but I ran into…something…as I was coming back from Laken’s village.”
